Kentucky Derby Post Positions

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer
1	Cool Coal Man	Julian Leparoux	Nick Zito
2	Tale of Ekati	Eibar Coa	Barclay Tagg
3	Anak Nakal	Rafael Bejarano	Nick Zito
4	Court Vision	Garrett Gomez	Bill Mott
5	Eight Belles	Gabriel Saez	Larry Jones
6	Z Fortune	Robby Albarado	Steve Asmussen
7	Big Truck	Javier Castellano	Barclay Tagg
8	Visionaire	Jose Lezcano	Micahel Matz
9	Pyro	Shawn Bridgmohan	Steve Asmussen
10	Colonel John	Corey Nakatani	Eoin Harty
11	Z Humor	Rene Douglas	Bill Mott
12	Smooth Air	Manoel Cruz	Bennie Stutts, Jr.
13	Bob Black Jack	Richard Migliorie	James Kasparoff
14	Monba	Ramon Dominguez	Todd Pletcher
15	Adriano	Edgar Prado	Graham Motion
16	Denis of Cork	Calvin Borel	David Carol
17	Cowboy Cal	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher
18	Recapturetheglory	E.T. Baird	Louie Roussel III
19	Gayego	Mike Smith	Paulo Lobo
20	Big Brown	Kent Desormeaux	Rick Dutrow

Name That Horse

A quick note about _____________: Although his five-furlong work in :57 4/5 Sunday was an excellent move and showed the colt handles the dirt well, he did take the turn into the stretch a little wide and didn’t show the agility a horse like Street Sense did last year or Denis of Cork this year. He is such a long-striding horse it takes him a while to find his best stride and you don’t want to get him stopped in any way or stuck in too much traffic. He looks to be the type of horse who would be much more comfortable outside horses. Once he kicks into gear and gets a clear run, then he can explode.

Do it yourself research

Now that the field is mostly settled I’m starting to do some research on Derby horses. There are a lot more sources of information available these days than there were when the ARFTCHC began. If you want to do some research on your own check out some of these sites:

The Blood-Horse – Check out the Triple Crown Mania Section. Steve Haskins is the main correspondent who will be watching and reporting on all the horses at Churchill Downs. Watch the Target Louisville videos to see the horses’ workouts and you can see replays of most of the Derby preps too.

Daily Racing Form – The DerbyWatch is a one page chart of all the contenders with comments from DRF columnists. You can also find free past performances and workout reports.

KentuckyDerby.com – Profiles, pedigrees, workouts, and race videos for all the contenders. You can watch replays and view official charts of previous Derbies, find a mint julep recipe and the words to “My Old Kentucky Home”.

Equidaily.com – A site that provides links to an assortment of sites, videos, and news stories. A reporter at an Idaho newspaper does a story on Big Brown? You’ll find a link to it here.

Louisville Courier-Journal – They have a whole Derby section with the latest news and interviews. Got an angle you think is a surefire Derby predictor? Plug it into the Derby Data Track Database and see who meets the criterion this year.

Del Mar Pedigree Query – Check this site to find 5 generation pedigrees and dosage information for each horse.

These are the main sources of information for my field notes for each race. Check them out and see what you can glean from them yourself. In the meantime, I’ll start compiling my own thoughts which so far consist mainly of how much I hate twenty horse Derby fields!

The Annoyed Handicapper

Just a Bunch of Letters

James Scully in his The Handicappeer’s Report for brisnet.com has broken down the contenders in the upcoming 2008 Kentucky Derby. At this point, the field is not set in stone by any means; however, some reasonable deductions can be made as to which horses will run. Scully looks at the horses’ BRIS figures from their last three races. The first number in the list is the most recent race. What you can’t learn from the numbers is certain specific information about each race. For example, Bob Black Jack ran a credible 106 BRIS three races ago. What you might not know is that the race was a 6 ½ f sprint.

ADRIANO -- 101, 81, 97

ANAK NAKAL -- 96, 89, 84

BEHINDATTHEBAR -- 99, 90, 89

BIG BROWN -- 110, 102, 91

BIG TRUCK -- 83, 99, 96

BOB BLACK JACK -- 97, 93, 106

COLONEL JOHN -- 98, 90, 96

COOL COAL MAN -- 85, 100, 94

COURT VISION -- 98, 93, 90

COWBOY CAL -- 96, 94, 94

DENIS OF CORK -- 95, 99, 90

EIGHT BELLES -- 103, 99, 98

GAYEGO -- 101, 94, 99

MONBA -- 97, 55, 95

PYRO -- 84, 100, 96

RECAPTURETHEGLORY -- 104, 86, 99

SMOOTH AIR -- 105, 95, 99

TALE OF EKATI -- 100, 92, 94

VISIONAIRE -- 90, 100, 93

Z FORTUNE -- 100, 92, 94

Z HUMOR -- 99, 90, 91

There is some question about the filly, Eight Belles, running. She may opt for the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and be the solid favorite in that race.

A friend has told me several times that the Derby is one race that can’t really be handicapped effectively. There are too many variables. Young horses. Inexperienced horses. Two turns. Long distance. Global post positions. Synthetic vs dirt. Huge field. Huge, loud crowd with no view of the actual track standing on loud aluminum benches making a bunch of noise. About the only thing you can count on is that the race will happen on a surface comprised of soil.

So who will win? I haven’t a real clue. Big Brown, the latest in a short line of favorites this year, might suffer from bad feet and definitely has inexperience. Pyro, the fallen wonder horse, might just be the horse to beat. How will California run? Gayego and Colonel John want to know. Perhaps it will be a rekindling of magic when Recapturetheglory recalls the racing spirit of War Emblem and rides his Illinois Derby victory south to Kentucky. Will Denis of Cork find the promise that has slipped away from him since Illinois. Are the stars rising for Court Vision and Cowboy Cal? Will the Z’s overcome the A’s, B’s, and C’s?

So my prediction for Kentucky Derby 2008 is that the horses will finish in alphabetical order.

Big Big Saturday

Big Big Saturday coming up soon! However, no Big horses are running, but one Giant one will be in action.

Giant Moon is scheduled to run in the Wood Memorial tomorrow at Aqueduct, but he isn't alone, not by a long-shot. Joining Giant Moon are Anak Nakal, Tale of Ekati, Court Vision, and War Pass among others. I believe that War Pass just wasn't right when he finished last in the Tampa Bay Derby in his last race. Reports are that he's been working strongly of late. I believe War Pass will be an angry horse. He didn't like finishing last, and he just didn't feel well. So I believe that War Pass, coming off an excellent breakfast, will blast the noble field. Court Vision will bow down in second while Giant Moon will run a small third. Tale of Ekati and Anak Nakal will get lost in their names.

At Hawthorne, the Illinois Derby will be run while the Earth continues to rotate. It looks to me to be a one-horse race. Denis of Cork. Experts rave that, "He's done nothing wrong." Denis of Cork will successfully complete his audition for the "Lawyer Ron" part in the Triple Crown races to come. Atoned has a fine name but has lacked and Z Humor will finish behind Promise.

The other huge race of the day is, of course, the Santa Anita Derby. Colonel John is the favorite but he could be pressed by El Gato Malo. Yankee Bravo is also in the field and could be a factor as is Bob Black Jack. I've never been sold on Colonel John, although I admit to having a bias against horses racing in California (except for Lost in the Fog). El Gato Malo has looked good of late, but I think this race is ripe for a long shot upset. Look for Coast Guard (20-1) or Signature Move (30-1).


Interesting things are afoot in our little family contest. Antilles Stable has made a massive push to the top. With 86 points they are second in our league and ranked 1595 internationally (out of 19,000). Schanuci continues to lead with 88 points (#1337). Walkin' Tall and Miracles are lurking.

Most stables will have the opportunity to play horses in each of the three included races this weekend. So big points could be earned. Walkin' Tall had the early advantage on weekends like this earlier in the season, but the additional three horses added to the stables may have mitigated that advantage.

Enough ramblin'...

League Rank	Score	Stable Name	Player
1	88	SCHANUCI	John Ryder
2	86	Antilles Stable	Elizabeth Ryder
3	80	Walkin' Tall	Andrew Ryder
4	76	Miracles	Thom Ryder
5	64	Princess Shea	philip martinez
6	60	APACHE_ROSE_PEACOCK	Andrew Ryder
7	52	Creasy Greens	Thomas Ryder
8	47	Yes We Can	John Wallace
9	33	Clifton Pond Stable	Rebecca Ryder